"Atlantis", August Blom (1913)

O cinema nórdico (neste caso dinamarquês) consolida-se como um dos mais importantes do Cinema Mudo.

One of the most famous early European feature films, the Danish production of Atlantis is an impressive achievement for the cinema of 1913. It is hard to believe that such a sophisticated achievement was released the same year as the relatively primitive work being produced in America. It may not seem high praise to say that Atlantis looks like a film from five years later, but this is a sophisticated production for any year, and amazing for 1913.

Atlantis demonstrates that you could take the technical elements of early filmmaking- fixed camera positions, no closeups, minimal sets, outdoor photography- and create effective cinema through restrained, naturalistic acting, a linear plot and basic film grammar. While it includes a few double exposures and beautiful shots at sunset, the filmmaking is not flashy or calling attention to itself.

A adaptation of a then-famous novel (by a Danish Nobel-prize winning author), the storytelling style of Atlantis differs from the classic American cinema. American filmmaking largely followed the narrative conventions of the stage. Like popular plays, American movies would carefully plant clues for later action, and trim any superfluous action or characters. Even a surprise ending would be completely logical. The protagonist in Atlantis is a doctor whose wife has been institutionalized, and decides to travel. You have no idea where the plot is going to go, so the story follows the doctor through a series of cities and contacts with people. The film is about his emotional growth, not what specifically happens to him. In the process, there are remarkable shots of Berlin as he takes a taxi ride around the city and later of New York City. If silent films are a lost art, so is the pre-World War I world of Europe and America captured by Atlantis.

The film is not emotionally involving, but it is very pleasant to watch. The involved (though not complicated) plot is like watching a meticulous adaptation of a novel you haven't read. The roots show in the textured characterizations, and the habit of introducing even peripheral characters by name. The quote on the front laserdisc jacket compares the film's brillance to The Birth of a Nation, but Griffith was expert at introducing characters and establishing them in the first few moments. The style of director August Blom builds the characters as the film progresses.

From the title of the film, there is some hope that we will see the legendary underwater city. The doctor is crossing the Atlantic to America on an ocean liner when the ship hits an obstruction and begins to sink. The title reads: "In his dreams Dr. von Kammacher walks with his friend, Dr. Schmidt, through the sunken town, Atlantis." The scenes are brief, and are accomplished by a few double exposures of ghostly images walking through a village.

The sinking of the ship, obviously influenced by the Titanic disaster of 1912, is extremely well staged, and the action highlight of the film. The staging is completely believable. In the early morning light, people in their nightclothes are on deck scrambling for the lifeboats. It looks for all the world like the filmmakers sank a real ship. There is a long shot of the ship half-underwater, with people jumping for safety from the stern into the water. There are some great scenes in the lifeboat after hours on the open sea, and rescued by a passing freighter.

The 1993 restoration by the Danish Filmmuseum, includes intertitles in Danish and English. The back jacket indicates that the video transfer was made from a 35mm fine grain print at 20 1/2 frames per second. Robert Israel provides a sensitive piano score largely working from Scandanavian classical music of the time. Knowing relatively little about silent Danish cinema or this film, the disc release could have used a second audio track. Since it does not, you may want to track down the book "Danish Cinema Before Dreyer," by Ron Mottram, published in 1988 by Scarecrow Press.
- in Cinemaweb